In conclusion: Just because you don't like something doesn't make it "pathetic" or "inferior".

Technically, it does, since notions of quality are inherently subjective.

So what's more pathetic, making a life sim game... or wasting your time trolling the internet to make fun of someone elses game?

What's more pathetic, wasting your time trolling on the internet to make fun of someone else's game or wasting your time acknowledging these trolls by responding to their posts?

Freedom of speech is a double-edged sword: it allows people to disagree with you. Personally, I find people-sims to be completely insipid and not innovate in the least. How can a simulation be innovative? As the Sims has proved with its dozens of expansion packs, these types of games are hardly pushing the industry forward or making them "viable," whatever that means. All they do is take attention away from games that actually deserve it.

People say "Oh, let people play what they want. It's none of your business anyway." Well, it is my business because if a lot of people buy a game that I dislike, it will convince publishers to fund more games that I dislike and take away funding from games I do like. It sickens me that games like the Sims sell like hotcakes while genuinely good games like Sacrifice, MDK2, Beyond Good & Evil, etc, sell like crap. Promising franchises are killed because people are too busy wasting their money on expansion packs for sims. The Sims and all games like it are a blight upon the gaming industry.

I appreciate your opinion, but hows it different from clicking a button to build a settlement in civ? In one game you are managing a civilisation, the other you are managing a single individual.

This is why I don't like city builders or God games either. They all feel so utterly mundane to me. It's one thing to simulate flying or driving, it's another to simulate resource management, appeasing the masses, etc.

I don't see it as being much different as a book or a movie. All are forms of escape from your current life into someplace else.

The difference is that movies and books have storylines. Sim games do not. If there was a movie or book about people doing laundry and cleaning their toilet, it wouldn't be terribly interesting.

But then you could argue the same of books. Or movies. That's like saying "Why read a book about a guy and his life, when you could read an Ian Fleming book?"

Even the most down-to-earth drama has important narrative aspects that keep it interesting for the audience. Instead of action, there is character development, relationships, etc. Sim games attempt to simulate this, but fail utterly because the AI is unconvincing and the characters are hollow. On top of this, the game forces you to do tedious crap like clean your house, go to work, etc.

In conclusion, Sim-type games suck and Will Wright should still be shot.This comment was edited on Jul 17, 15:34.

I waited for Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War because I love Stainless steels way of making RTS games, but Midway decided for the first time ever to put SF in that game so they lost my business along with many other friends who were also awaiting the game.

Actually, Midway was slapping Starforce onto their PC games long before Rise & Fall. I believe the first game was a Midway Classics compilation or something.

When I said that $50 million in sales would be a profit, I was actually thinking in terms of publisher. It's pretty obvious that developers get shafted, no argument there. But I think most publishers would consider $50 million in sales to be a profit.

One could argue that EA and LucasArts are lasting just fine and dandy. Both companies screw customers over on a regular basis, with horrible game support and the premature release of games.

As for the whole stats issue, I really couldn't care less. Oh no, they are tracking my game statistics. Damn Big Brother! Screw the PATRIOT ACT!!!! DEAR LORD, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO HUMAN RIGHTS?!?!? Privacy is overrated. In fact, one could easily say that privacy is the reason why so many crimes are committed. If there was no privacy, far less people would get away with crimes and there would be a steep decline in the overall crime rate. But I digress. Unless Valve starts tracking my credit card and social security numbers, it's not an issue.This comment was edited on Jun 24, 02:54.

Technically, all the NFS games consist of street racing, since most of the races take place on streets, as opposed to official tracks.

But yeah, it would be nice to see a NFS game designed exclusively for the PC again. Sure, Porsche Unleashed was also released on the PSOne and the Game Boy, but the PC version was definitely the definitive one.

I had this happen to me multiple times on the very last race in Underground. I knew the track perfectly, had all my nitrous worked out etc, every shortcut, and the guy would breeze past me at the last second.

Underground was nothing compared to Midnight Club 2. Although the game was tremendous fun, it was also tremendously frustrating, as the other racers would always be on your ass. Add in the heavy, random traffic (Paris, good lord) and you have a recipe for cheap AI wins.

Porsche Unleashed was great, but had a really terrible sense of speed. You also had to play through the Evolution mode and drive a bunch of really, really crappy old cars before getting anything decent. Really loved the track design though.